Page 47 of Flameborne: Chosen (Emberquell Academy #1)

~ DONAVYN ~

I went to bed that night with a strange itch between my shoulder blades. A niggling unease that I knew I should confront, but was too weary, or perhaps too cowardly to face.

As I slipped into bed and groaned with relief, I felt Kgosi’s scrutiny in my mind and bristled.

‘Why aren’t you asleep yet?’

‘My bonded one is tense. Is there anything you’d like to get off your chest, Donavyn?’

‘I’m fine.’

‘I believe your trainee would make the same assessment.’ He gave that breathy huff that I’d learned was dragon laughter and I scowled, though the effect was lost on him since he couldn’t see me.

‘Don’t even joke about that, Keg. I’m a man of honor, leading others. I would never breach conduct or use my position to draw a woman into—’

‘I don’t believe it’s your position that appeals to her. You humans are far more feral than that.’

I blinked. ‘What makes you say that? Has Akhane relayed Bren’s words or—’

‘Calm down, Donavyn.’ The teasing tone left him and he became the Primarch—and my mentor—once more. ‘Relax. I only meant to smile with you. She is a good heart, as are you. Neither of you seeks to breach your strange, human rules.’

I blew out a breath heavy with relief and something like disappointment. But that wasn’t right .

‘The rules aren’t strange, Keg. We enforce them because my people are prone to use their power to influence those they want. No woman—or man—should work fearing that their livelihood relies on keeping a powerful person satisfied.’

A fleeting thought of the Queen’s smile when she’d walked in on my meeting with the King the day before flitted through my head. I grimaced. I knew the shudder of unwanted attention from someone who held your future in their hands.

I had no desire for the Queen. I admired her strength and appreciated her intellect. But she was becoming unsubtle in her signals. And risking the attention of others.

A short, firm word would solve the problem, but we were never alone.

Seeking her out would send the wrong signal, so I waited for the moment when it might happen naturally.

I couldn’t afford to humble her in front of others, yet I would not be drawn.

Unfortunately, the risk was that she would use her power and influence to corner me politically.

I shook the thoughts off. It was another stress for another day.

‘You are a good heart, Donavyn. Rest in the arms of the Creator. His plan will always end in your good.’

‘You say that, but His plan was to put you in my head for the rest of my life, so at times I question His judgment.’

Kgosi huffed and I grinned.

‘Goodnight, Donavyn. Sleep well and dream of wherever you might find peace.’

I was touched. ‘Thank you, Keg. And you as well.’

Then I rolled over, feeling somewhat better, and went to sleep, only to be plunged into everything that was not peaceful…

I landed Kgosi in that clearing, trying to hide my smirk because she’d fallen on landing again and now swung back and forth, a pendulum from Akhane’s neck. A very sullen, pouting pendulum with her jaw jutting forward and her arms folded under her breasts.

With a chuckle, I trotted across the grass to climb Akhane’s mounting strap.

Bren’s lips pursed and she wouldn’t meet my eyes, even though she faced me, her back against her dragon’s neck.

“It happens to the best of us at times,” I murmured as I reached her, still swallowing laughter.

“Don’t try to make me—”

I felt her tense as I looped an arm at her waist and pulled her up against my side.

She gave a tiny little gasp and my body thrilled, but I pushed the inappropriate thought away.

She didn’t lean away, and she didn’t grimace.

Just went quiet as I held her. But this time she faced out, so she was forced to loop a knee around my waist to hold herself against me and her arm over my shoulder to brace her weight so I could lift her off the tension on the strap and unclip her .

Only able to use one hand, she struggled with the firm clip, cursing when she pinched her finger.

“Here, let me help,” I said, my voice gruff after flying in the dry air of the skies.

Hoisting her higher, I pulled her harder against me so she could hook both knees on my hips and take her weight to make better use of her hands.

But that added tension to the mounting strap, so I had to walk her up another step.

Then I hiked her a little higher again, like a child being lifted.

But it wasn’t a child’s breasts that bobbed under my nose, or a child’s ass that I gripped to keep her higher so she’d have less tension on the strap.

I had to clear my throat and think about the winter-lake swims we took when I was a Wing Captain while I stared at her hands, working that clip, begging my body not to respond to the spread of her thighs.

Then she bit her lip in concentration and I was frozen, staring at that plump little pillow squeezed under her teeth.

I wanted to use my thumb to tease it out, open that mouth and lay mine on it—

“Oh, thank God,” she breathed as the clip finally gave under her hands.

I yanked my eyes up from her mouth and our gazes locked as she drew the clip off her belt.

Her eyes were round, her breath shallow and short—it fluttered over my lips because we were so damn close. The wind ruffled those tendrils around her face that had been blown out of her braid while we flew.

But then she drew the strap away and dropped it, losing the extra tension against her body. It shifted her weight—and that shifted mine.

My foot slipped and I cursed in the same moment she squeaked and threw both arms around my shoulders, her knees tight on my waist and her, er, seat pressed into my lap.

A groan started in my throat and I had to swallow it, cursing, forcing myself to focus because if I lost my grip we were tumbling to the ground together.

Bren clung to me, her breath hot on my neck, while I fought to balance us both.

I tried to concentrate. Forced myself to focus on getting her to the ground safely.

But her body was warm and soft under her flying leathers.

And when I was still a few feet from the grass, she held me more tightly to pull herself up my body and I was forced to grip her ass with my free hand to give her leverage.

Then everything happened at once.

My cramping hand slipped on the mounting strap. My foot slid off Akhane’s knee. Bren’s embrace grew tighter in reflex, but my natural instinct to grab the strap with my other hand left her hanging off my shoulders and hips—and that shifted my weight again.

We tumbled backwards .

“Tuck!” It was the only command I had time to get out before we hit the ground, my shoulders taking the brunt of our weight, her head tucked into my neck—I held her and rolled us both immediately to transfer the impact.

But I only succeeded in flipping us once, then we came to a stop, me on my back, and her plastered to my chest.

My lungs didn’t want to expand because of the impact.

I gaped like a fish, but Bren pushed up to sit—her weight shifting back to press her ass against my groin.

I should have been grateful—the jolt that traveled my body from that precious contact sang through my veins and my lungs inflated on a gasp.

We both froze, Bren’s hands braced on my chest, her eyes round, both of us staring as I grabbed at her hips to keep her still.

Or, keep her with me?

Bren stared down at me, her lower lip slack, eyes searching mine. Her gaze was fearful, but hopeful too.

I raised one trembling hand to cup her face and her eyes widened so I could see the whites all the way around. But she didn’t pull away, and her breathing quickened.

The urge to kiss her was so strong, there was a tearing sensation in my heart when I fought it. I tried to speak her name, but my voice failed. I knew I had to move or this would destroy both of us.

Splaying my free hand at her back, I sat up intending to rise and offer my hand to help her to her feet. But then we were sitting, facing each other, her straddling me, and our noses bare inches apart.

And my hand was still on her face.

Without my permission, my fingers clawed into the sensitive skin of her neck. My thumb slid under the point of her chin, lifting it. Her breath caught and that hope in her eyes turned to heat.

She swallowed and the feeling of her skin moving under my palm was so sweet, I groaned and dove to open my mouth on that delicate skin, tasting the salt there as she inhaled sharply and her back arched—

‘Well, it’s about time, God you humans are slow to—’

I woke with a start, sitting up in bed, blinking, chest heaving, cock aching and hard. It took long seconds to remember where I was—my own apartment—and that it wasn’t our training session the night before.

It was a dream.

It was just a fucking dream.

Slumping back on my pillows I groaned and covered my face with my hands as the images from that dream—the soft rounds of her body, the sights and scents, the little sounds in her throat—

I cursed and threw the blankets back, throwing myself out of bed and stomping towards the water closet. I needed a cold bath and a good meal and to look into the sunlight and let the dream fade. There was nothing good to come of letting my mind go there.

Teeth gritted as I stomped for the door, I forced my mind to the problem of the dragons’ low mate pairs and subsequent dwindling hatchlings. We hadn’t had a new dragon in over a year, and there were only a dozen incubating when there should have been twice that.

‘Good morning, Donavyn.’

‘Don’t be cheery with me. I haven’t forgiven you for your teasing last night,’ I grumbled in return. ‘Putting ideas in my head and—’

‘How did you sleep?’

The question was so casual, so indifferent. So suspicious.

I’d just stepped into the water closet, but I froze in my tracks, instinctively turning to face the stables where I knew Kgosi lay. Alongside Akhane. And Bren.

‘Was that you? You could see my dream?’

‘I can see any thought in your head if I choose to, you know that Donavyn.’

‘You could see what I was dreaming. And you interrupted?’

There was a low rumble from my dragon I couldn’t quite interpret. ‘I believe the first time your lips touch Bren, she should know that it’s happening.’

Electric heat crackled through my body. I jolted at Kgosi’s mention of me kissing Bren, as if that weren’t a preposterous suggestion. As if it were nothing more than a stupid fantasy of a young man with a crush. As if it weren’t utterly improper. An offense.

Then I remembered who I was talking to. My dragon was wise, and strong, and worthy of following. He was also sly, sarcastic, and shameless when it came to teasing.

Relief and disappointment washed through me in equal measure. I hacked a humorless laugh. “Never,” I muttered, then took a deep breath. ‘I suppose I should thank you for not allowing me to wander down a pointless, foundationless, idiotic trail like that, but, boundaries, Keg.’

Kgosi huffed in my mind. ‘You’re just grumpy because you were thwarted.’

I bristled and turned back to the water closet to pour the night-chilled water from the pitcher into the bowl to splash it on my face and chest. The frigid shock did an excellent job of calming my body as I gritted my teeth against the icy cold.

‘I’m not angry. I’m just tired. We were out late last night and—’

‘And what, Donavyn?’

‘Nothing. We were simply out late.’

‘And your sleep was restless,’ he rumbled.

I wanted to curse again. I could feel his smile. Feel his knowing in the bond. But as irritating as it was, it also made me sweat.

‘Please, don’t tease, Keg,’ I muttered in the bond.

‘I can’t afford this kind of distraction.

It wouldn’t be fair to either of us. She’s clearly been wounded and is only just beginning to trust me.

It’s natural that the way we’re thrown together would develop intimacy.

But I don’t want to worry her. I just need to keep a tight leash on myself, that’s all. ’

‘Yes, Donavyn. Of course. Because you’ve always thrived when anyone seeks to restrain you.’

I scowled and splashed another scoop of water over my chest. ‘Shut up.’

Then I was angry. Because my dragon didn’t stop laughing until well after I was dried and dressed.